DOPAOP

DOPAOP is a fictional open-source data protocol used in educational contexts to illustrate principles of network protocol design. It does not correspond to a real-world standard or deployed technology, and references to DOPAOP in official specifications are avoided outside teaching materials.

In classroom usage, DOPAOP is commonly presented as an acronym that may stand for Data Optimized Protocol for Access and Overlay Planning, though variations exist in different texts. The concept is described as a modular protocol intended to separate control and data flows, enabling researchers and students to study design choices without tying to a specific commercial implementation.

Architecturally, DOPAOP is depicted as a two-layer model with a control plane that negotiates session parameters and a data plane that carries payloads. The protocol is described as using a compact header containing fields such as message type, length, and a checksum, with extensibility for optional features. Implementations are imagined to support both text-based and binary encodings, a simple handshake for session setup, and basic reliability mechanisms such as sequencing and acknowledgments. Some descriptions include optional path diversity and multihoming concepts to illustrate routing decisions.

History and usage of the concept are limited to educational settings. DOPAOP appears in curricula, lab exercises, and network simulators to demonstrate layering, protocol testing, and the evaluation of trade-offs between simplicity and reliability. Because it is fictional, there is no governance body or standardization process governing DOPAOP, and it has no real-world deployment or interoperability implications.

Related topics in teaching materials include comparisons with real protocols such as TCP, UDP, QUIC, and HTTP/2, which help students understand how design choices affect performance and resilience.